Stanford Rapist Released After Serving Half Of 6-Month Sentence

Brock Turner walked out of the Clara County Main Jail on the heels of Labor Day weekend.

Stanford rapist Brock Turner was released from jail early Friday morning at the start of a three-day weekend. Turner only served half of his six-month sentencing, after he was found guilty of raping an unconscious woman outside of a fraternity house in January 2015.

Turner is expected to return to his home state of Ohio, where he will serve the terms of his probation and register as a sex offender.

NPRreports that activists protested Turner’s release this morning outside of the Clara Main County Jail. One in particular, Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, championed for a recently approved bill in California that requires a prison sentence – over a jail stay – for anyone convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious or intoxicated person.

Brock Turner, the former Stanford student and swimmer found guilty of three felony sexual assault charges, is set to be released from prison on Friday, September 2, for “good behavior,” according toCNN. After his release, Turner will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Turner is serving time at a Clara County jail in California for raping an unconscious woman outside of a fraternity house in January 2015.

He was initially sentenced to six months and three years probation, but Aaron Persky, the judge assigned to his case, reduced the sentence to three months. Prosecutors sought a six-year-jail term.

Outcry poured in over Turner’s case and lenient sentencing, critiquing the systematic issues involved; race, class, and male privilege. Critics also formed petitions calling on Persky to step down from his seat. In August, he announced he would no longer hear criminal cases.

Former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner’s six-month sentence was reduced to three, citing “credits” due to good behavior, USA Todayreports.

Turner was sentenced last week on three counts of sexual assault for raping an unconscious woman outside of a fraternity house in January 2015.

He’s interned at Elmwood prison in Milpitas, California, confined to a private cell and kept away from the general population.

“He’s in protected custody because of his charge, his offense,” said Sergeant Joe Jephson from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office in an interview with The Daily Mail.“He’s kept away from our general population inmates. There are other protected inmates that he is around but he’s kept away from our general population inmates.”

Turner has requested a transfer to his home state of Ohio, and wants to spend his three-year probation there when he’s released from Elmwood.

The victim remains unnamed, but spoke truth to power with a sweeping letter designed to pierce through deaf ears about sexual assault and the blinding effects of rape culture.

One of the most shocking artifacts revealed in court documents shows that Turner habitually lied to his probation officer, saying the sex was consensual, in order to receive a more lenient sentence. This explosive statement was revealed after he received his six month sentence. A Santa Clara district attorney present during the statement intervened saying it was “untruthful.”

Turner’s rape conviction sparked heightened social commentary. Critics and pundits have seared into his jail sentence, juxtaposing it along the intersection of gender, race, and class.

Others are taking action in the quest for justice. CNN reports that a Change.org petition calling for Judge Aaron Persky to lose his job has over 900,000 signatures at the time of reporting and is just one of many. Persky was the presiding judge in Turner’s case.